Friday, April 6, 2012

A study by the Theatre Development Fund shows "the average playwright earns $25,000 to $39,000 annually, with about 62 percent of playwrights making less than $40,000 and nearly a third pulling in less than $25,000." I would suspect that for most of us, a true accounting of the money earned for our work would be closer to Zero. Unfortunately.

To read the original post, please click this post's title.

Update: 4/13

From a Dramaturgy discussion, sponsored by LMDA: Are there racial disparities in terms of how much playwrights earn? This is A.J. Muhammad's response:

The "earning power" of playwrights is close to zilch. There are 1000s of us who work at it 20-80 hours a week over decades, and the number who make a living from royalties on their plays or a salary as writer-in-residence is miniscule. See TDF's report "Outrageous Fortune"When I began the odds were already impossible: successful playwrights needed a combination of sheer luck, insane self-confidence, attractive personalities, and it helped a lot to be born a white male whose family had a connection to Show Business.

These factors are still operative, but added to them is the rise of the advanced degree in dramaturgy as part of the vetting process and the expectation that playwrights will endure unpaid internships and also be able to drop everything and travel at their own expense to be helpfully involved anywhere that a theatre producing one of their plays welcomes them. How many writers of color can do that, pay off their student loans, and earn a living from a Day Job that pays their rent at the same time?

However, Tyler Perry may be the most successful American playwright ever.